Pride and Prejudice 2002
by thorns and roses
Summary: What if Jane Austen had come to Sydney, Australia, in 2002? Imagine an AUSTRALIAN, version of Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, but keeping her style of language. This is my take on things. Please r/r.
1. Chapter I

A/N I wrote this when I was in yr 7, so please be kind. And please review. PLEASE! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Chapter I  
  
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. at least this is what the middle- aged, avid social climber, Mrs Bennet, believed. Despite the fact that she lived in the twenty-first century, an age when women have careers and often do not marry until they are thirty, if they marry at all, Harriet Bennet was a firm believer in the institution of matrimony, preferably before the age of twenty-one, and definitely before the age of twenty-five.  
  
Her five daughters and her long-suffering husband were forced to put up with the consequences of this motherly obsession. Harriet's girls, Jane, twenty-three, Elizabeth (Lizzy), twenty, Mary, nineteen, Catherine (Kitty), seventeen and Lydia, fifteen, were constantly implored by their mother to attend numerous social gatherings where eligible, wealthy bachelors might be in attendance. Not that her matchmaking efforts were completely unwelcome: Harriet's two youngest daughters, Kitty and Lydia, were the most determined boy-chasers on the planet, and any opportunity to mix and flirt with handsome young men was always keenly welcomed!  
  
"My dear John!" Mrs Bennet cried excitedly. "We have a new addition to our list of local millionaires!" After waiting a moment, she exclaimed impatiently, "And do you not want to know who he is?"  
  
To which her husband replied, "You are determined to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing all about him."  
  
Ignoring his sarcastic remarks, she pressed on. "A rich, young man from England.A single, rich, young man, my dear . what a fine thing for our girls!"  
  
"How so, Harriet? And how may it affect them?"  
  
"Oh, John!" his wife exclaimed, "You must know that I'm thinking of his marrying one of them!"  
  
"Is that his intent in moving here?"  
  
"Intent? Oh how can say things like that?"  
  
Her five daughters exchanged wry smiles at their mother's failure to recognise their father's irony.  
  
"But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them." She paused to let this remark sink in. "I think it would most likely be Jane, for she is by far the prettiest of all of you." Mrs Bennet had once again managed to insult four of her daughters within their hearing, but they were used to such indiscretions on her part.  
  
"Jane may be the prettiest, but Lizzy is by far the cleverest." John, like his wife, had his favourites within the family.  
  
"What would a man want with a clever wife? No, John, beauty always wins out in the end." Harriet Bennet was stating her opinion as a universally acknowledged fact of life: A good-looking girl with an empty head and a pleasant personality cannot fail to attract a rich, clever young man.  
  
Mrs Bennet was a woman of limited understanding, little information and uncertain temper. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was luncheon and gossip. 


	2. Chapter II

A/N ok. It's been like 6 wks since I've updated but I have an excuse. kinda. I forgot about this story. *smiles sheepishly* ok. And I'd like to thank my reviewers  
  
Daffodil - THANK YOU!  
  
Midnight Mistress - You caught me out!  
  
Lizzy Bennet -Yeah, you're right I should put a disclaimer. SORRY! And about the rich young man thing. can't you just imagine a snobby pom turning his nose up at an Aussie? Sorry, I live in Australia, and it's something that I've experienced before. so yeah.  
  
Starborn and Lauz - thanks. But I know you only read it b/c you knew what I'd do if you didn't.  
  
Disclaimer: Nothing on here belongs to me. Everything belongs to the wonderful soul of Jane Austen!!! I OWN NOTHING!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The Bennets were a very respectable family living in Wahroonga on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, Australia. Their house was called Longbourne and was generously proportioned for a family of seven.  
  
"Oh, Jane, come and look at this invitation! A fancy dress New Year's Eve Party at Darling Harbour!" Harriet exclaimed excitedly, as she opened the most sought after invitation on the Sydney Social Calendar. "And I'm sure Charles Bingley, with all of his exalted connections, will find a way to be there! So of course he will ask you to dance." Mrs Bennet, in her usual manner, was jumping to conclusions without a rational reason or sufficient proof. "I could not understand him if he did not." Her monologue then continued, "You, Jane, have the figure and the face of a supermodel!"  
  
"Mama, really!" sighed Jane.  
  
"Must we go, Mother? For I find little pleasure in such things, and would much prefer to spend the night at home reading Homer, Wordsworth or Shakespeare," whined Mary, the plain, boring one of the family.  
  
Harriet Bennet replied, that they must indeed go, because then ALL of her girls would be introduced to the much talked-of Charles Bingley.  
  
On New Year's Eve, Harriet Bennet and her two youngest daughters, in particular, were in a heightened state of nervous excitement, as they prepared for the dress-up party. Each girl had chosen an outfit which matched her personality: Lydia was dressed as Satine from "Moulin Rouge"; Kitty as a flirtatious playboy bunny; Mary as an unconvincing, frumpish Beethoven; Lizzy as an early eighteenth century noble woman, while Jane was a persuasive Florence Nightingale.  
  
Charles Bingley had indeed been invited to the party. He brought with him four guests: his two sisters, Louisa Hurst and Caroline Bingley; Henry Hurst, Louisa's husband; and a tall, dark and handsome mystery man, who, the Bennets were later informed, was Charles' best friend, William Darcy. Moreover, it was rumoured (and every rumour MUST have a basis of truth for Harriet Bennet), that he was worth twice as much as his charming and amiable companion.  
  
As the evening relaxed into a mixture of laughter, eating, drinking and dancing, Charles was universally acknowledged by all the ladies present, who gossiped relentlessly, to be either their ideal future partner or son- in-law, depending on the age and circumstance of the lady involved. As Lizzy and her good friend Charlotte Lucas observed, he seemed to favour Jane over all the other girls.  
  
With midnight approaching, Lizzy was partnerless and seated alone, when she happened to overhear the following rather amusing conversation between William Darcy and Charles Bingley, who were standing only a few metres away from her.  
  
"Come on, William," said Charles, "You must dance. I hate to see you standing around by yourself in this stupid manner. You really should make the effort to be sociable and get out onto the dance floor."  
  
"I certainly shall not!" declared Darcy. "You know how I detest this type of social conformity. In any event, at such a party as this, it would be insupportable. Your sisters are busy at present and there is not another woman in the room with whom I could bring myself to dance!"  
  
"I would not be as fussy as you are, for all the world," cried Charles. "I have never seen as many beautiful girls in my life, as I have this evening."  
  
"You are dancing with the only worthwhile girl in the room," remarked William, casting his grudgingly approving gaze onto Jane Bennet. "Oh! She is the most stunning woman I have ever seen! But there is one of her very pretty sisters sitting down just behind you. Do let me ask Jane to introduce you." "Whom do you mean?" and turning round, William's steely gaze swept over Elizabeth, until he caught her eye, and hastily withdrew his own. He then remarked, rather coldly in Lizzy's opinion, "She is tolerable, I suppose; but not pretty enough to tempt me. Charles, I am in no mood to pay attention to rather plain, ill-bred, colonial women who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her sweet smiles, because you are wasting your time with me." Charles, being keen to return to Jane, took his friend's advice. William strode off to fetch another drink; and Elizabeth remained seated, alone, with stunned and resentful feelings towards him. Later, she retold the narrative, among her friends; for loved a great joke and in her opinion, this was up with the very best of amusing tales. She delighted in the looks on her friends' faces, when they heard William Darcy's opinion of Elizabeth Bennet and the continent Down Under.  
  
Please review, and I don't mind flames!! It's winter now and I'm cold! :-) 


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